Madrid

Hola :)

I spent the past weekend not in Barcelona, but in Madrid visiting Katie :) After the longest day of class ever on Thursday (if you dont recall, I have class from 9-9) I came home ate, showered, packed and went to bed. Unfortunately with the hour commute from school, I didn't get to bed until 12:30 and had to be up at 3:00 am to catch my bus for my flight out of Girona. Needless to say it was pretty painful waking up that early, but also pretty funny considering the boys weren't back from going out by the time I left!

Early Friday morning I arrived to Madrid and met Katie at the airport. We took the metro back to her apartment and I met all of her wonderful roommates. She lives with 6 other girls from all different backgrounds: Italian, French, Romanian and Chinese. What's great is that their common language is Spanish so they all speak it to each other in the apartment. It was a great way for me to keep practicing my Spanish. After taking a much needed nap while Katie went to class, we decided to walk around the city since it was a beautiful day. I enjoyed walking through Sol the city center and the Retiro park. That night we went to a club called MoonDance and Katie and I had fun dancing the night away!

On Saturday we visited the Royal Palace and the Prado Museum. The Royal Palace was a pleasant surprise for sure. As we walked through each "sala" or room of the palace, the place continued to wow me. Each room was more ornate than the next. I wish I had photos that showed the beauty of the details, but we weren't allowed to take pictures :(  After stopping to get cafe and rest our legs for a little (how Spanish of us!) we journeyed onto the Prado. Going on Saturday from 6-8 is free, but you will never see it all in just two hours! Although I'm not much one for art and being able to critique it properly, I thoroughly still enjoyed the Prado. The best part was recognizing some of the art I studied before in class (mostly Goya's stuff, like 'Saturno') and seeing it in person! One of my favorite pieces was El Bosco's The Garden of Earthly Delights, which depicts the fine line that exists between paradise and Hell. But like I said, I'm no critic, and I mostly just appreciated the grand scale and detail of the paintings. That night we went to a bar called El Champandaz which was a local place near Katie's flat. I loved it! It was full of Spanish people, which actually has been hard to find as an exchange student. The interior resembled that of a cave and when you ordered  drink, it came down from one of the cave isicles hanging from the ceiling. Very cool!

Sunday Katie and I walked around El Rastro, a huge open air flea market in Madrid that's held on Sundays from 9am-3pm. You can quite possibly buy anything and everything there including books, shoes, leather, scarfs, underwear, antiques, and anything else you can imagine! Katie purchased a large wall rug for her room next year and I happily purchased a small over-the-should leather purse (very common here) and a scarf for only 7 euros. Quite the bargain! Because it was such a beautiful day, later we walked around El Lago (translated, the lake - it's located in a very large park). Afterwards we relaxed back at her apartment since we walked a ton this weekend.

Today I arrived back in Barcelona and it is truly starting to feel like home! I think it was due to the familiar feeling I felt when I stepped off the bus back from the Girona airport. I can't wait to show Katie around the city when she comes in two weeks... and then Chris ... and then Erica! I cannot believe it's already February 21st. How time flies!

Well, until next time...